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The FGM-148 Javelin, or Advanced Anti-Tank Weapon System-Medium (AAWS-M), is an American-made man-portable anti-tank system in service since 1996 and continuously upgraded. It replaced the M47 Dragon anti-tank missile in US service.[11] Its fire-and-forget design features automatic infrared guidance, allowing the user to seek cover immediately after launch, in contrast to wire-guided systems like the system used by the Dragon, which require a user to guide the weapon throughout the engagement. The Javelin's high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead can defeat modern tanks by top-down attack, hitting them from above, where their armor is thinnest, and is useful against fortifications in a direct attack flight. The Javelin uses a tandem charge warhead to circumvent an enemy tank's explosive reactive armor (ERA), which would normally render HEAT warheads ineffective.
As of 2019[update], according to claims by the manufacturer, the Javelin had been used in around five thousand successful engagements.[8] By August 2021, fifty thousand missiles had been delivered to customers.[9]
^Lagneau, Laurent (15 November 2016). "La bataille de Raqqa, en français dans le texte" [The battle of Raqqa, in French in the text]. opex360.com (in French). Zone militaire. Archived from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
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